Kaiju Movie Review No. 4

To start off the month of September, we got another one of Kuroneko-Sama’s Kaiju Reference listings!

Reference(s) No. 4:

TV Reference(s):Godzilla vs. Gigan – Nebula Space Hunter M Aliens

Gamera vs. Guiron – Alien women

Show: Red Dwarf

Season: VI

Episode No.: 1

Episode: Psirens

Plot Summary: After being awoken from a 200-year period in stasis, Lister, Rimmer, the Cat, and Kryten are faced with the seemingly impossible task of relocating Red Dwarf and Holly. Flying in Star Bug, Kryten announced that they have located the Dwarf’s vapor trail. Their pursuit, however, takes them into an asteroid belt in which they discover reside cockroach-like extraterrestrials that want to eat their brains!

Reference(s): I have found several references within this episode. Whether they were in their on purpose or merely coincidental, I cannot say. However, owing to the fact that Red Dwarf continuously riffs a vast majority of science fiction icons, such as Star Trek, it is likely that the following were inspired in some way by daikaiju eiga:The first reference that can be found is the nature of the extraterrestrials – called Psirens – in the fact that they are, put simply, overgrown cockroaches. This models the Nebula Space Hunter M aliens in the respect that they, too, are overgrown cockroaches.I call this episode a reference to the Gamera vs. Guiron female aliens in respect to the method in which the Psirens utilize to lure their victims. Such as the Sirens of mythology, Psirens lure their victims by way of hypnotic attraction and making their victims believe they are facing either an awesome object of love and affection or, in the case with Lister at one point, a friend or companion that can be trusted. The female aliens of the Guiron film use this similar method by making the boys believe that they are merely beautiful, benevolent women from another planet. As with the Psirens, their true intentions are sinister and, to say the least, rather distasteful, as in both incidents, these extraterrestrials seek to consume the brains of their victims, though their rationalizations to this practice may differ.

Credit for Reference(s): Kuroneko-sama

Film Reference(s):Godzilla

Film: Toy Story 2

Year: 1999

Plot synopsis: While rescuing a toy from Mom’s garage sale, Woody is stolen by the man in the chicken suit from Al’s Toy Barn! Buzz and the gang set off to rescue the cowboy, but not just from the Chicken Man, but also from another toy!

Reference(s): As with the first Toy Story film, Hamm pokes at Rex with Godzilla references several times, even calling Rex Godzilla on one occasion in the film.Credit for Reference(s): Kuroneko-sama

Other reference(s):Rodan

Media type: novel

Title: It

Author: Stephen King

Plot Synopsis: An evil exists in the town of Derry – several years ago, a group of kids thought that they had rid themselves of it. Now, as adults, they must fight it again.

Reference(s): There is a point in the novel in which one of the boys in the main cast is watching the film Rodan with his father.Credit for Reference(s): Kuroneko-sama